VAN2000111303 - 13 NOVEMBER 2000 - VANCOUVER, B.C. CANADA: Flanked by local candidates, Joe Clark, leader of Canada's Progressive Conservative Party talks about health care issues during a federal election campaign stop outside Emergency at Vancouver General Hospital, November 13. Clark is a distant third at 9% in national polls two weeks before the November 27, voting date. hr/H. Ruckemann

Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, PC, CC, AOE (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian journalist, politician, statesman, businessman, and university professor. He served as the 16th Prime Minister of Canada, from June 4, 1979, to March 3, 1980.

Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal politics, entering the House of Commons in the 1972 election and winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1976. He came to power in the 1979 election, defeating the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau and ending sixteen continuous years of Liberal rule. Taking office the day before his 40th birthday, Clark was the youngest man to become Prime Minister, and the only person to ever defeat Pierre Trudeau in a federal election. His tenure was brief as he only won a minority government and it was defeated on a motion of non-confidence. Clark subsequently lost the 1980 election and the leadership of the party in 1983.

He returned to prominence in 1984 as a senior cabinet minister in Brian Mulroney's cabinet, retiring from politics after not standing for re-election for the House of Commons in 1993. He made a political comeback in 1998 to lead the Progressive Conservatives before its dissolution, serving his final term in Parliament from 2000 to 2004. Clark today is recognized as a distinguished scholar and statesman, and serves as a university professor and as president of his own consulting firm.

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